


Paper fan

by mrysia



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-12 16:30:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17471024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrysia/pseuds/mrysia
Summary: Soulmark should at least give one vague idea who their soulmate is, right? But if it applies to an entire clan it's bound to get a bit complicated.





	1. Fourteen and seven

„What’s wrong with him?” Kushina mouthed to her husband from where she stood stirring in the pot. She motioned at the boy sitting by the table in the dining area that was connected to the kitchen.

Minato regarded his student, the boy, well not really anymore, a teen more likely, had his head leaning on his arm, with his other hand he balanced a pepperbox absentmindedly as he waited without a word for dinner.

“Something’s wrong?” Minato mouthed back to the redheaded woman and she only closed her eyes with pointed resignation at his obliviousness. The blond noticed her slim fingers twitching on the spoon she was holding and Minato eyed it warily.

Minato blinked twice before turning his attention back to his only remaining student.

He looked the usual, a mope of gray hair that didn’t belong on someone barely hitting puberty, his usual mask in place, a blank dark eye with bored expression. His shoulders might have been a little slouched over but apart from that his student appeared to be his normal self.

But then he sighed.

Minato’s eyes widened at the sound, praising his wife’s observation skills, as the teen in their kitchen was not the type to sigh.

Minato searched his memory for every moment he had spent in the company of his student. Yes, it seemed he had sighed quite a lot lately, his face though always sharp more absentminded than usual. The Hokage narrowed the timeline down to two weeks, two weeks he had acted differently and Minato hadn’t noticed a thing, yet it took his wife a total five minutes in his presence to catch on it. But then, no matter how sharp Minato appeared in fight he was quite dense in other departments – at least that’s what Kushina had always said.

“Is something troubling you, Kakashi?” Minato asked leaning over a counter between the kitchen and dining area.

Kakashi looked up at him then shrugged along with a noncommittal sound that Minato took as negative.

Kushina huffed behind him, annoyed at Minato who seemed content with the answer and dropped the subject. She thrusted the spoon into his hand and went over the counter to sit in a chair next to Kakashi.

“Kakashi-kun” she said, connecting fingers of her hands in front of her. Minato took a sip of tea and observed his wife with growing interest as a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes “Is it a girl?” she asked in whisper.

Minato choked on his tea.

Kakashi’s finger slipped and the pepperbox he played with fell.

Kushina stopped it with ninja reflexes before it rolled to the edge of the table a triumphant smile adorned her features. Minato gaped between her pretty face and Kakashi’s uncomfortable one once he regained his composure.

Kakashi shrugged and looked away, retracting his hand to his lap once it had nothing to occupy it with.

“Are you blushing?” Kushina teased the teen and Kakashi sent a pleading look to his sensei but Minato already turned to the stove to stir the soup.

Kakashi’s visible eye widened when he realized that his traitorous mentor threw him to the wolves.

“You can’t see that” he replied in a defensive tone, not looking at her.

“Your ears are red” she stated and when she laughed heartily as Kakashi’s hand went instinctively to his ears he realized she had been only teasing. “But really, if you need an advice I’m here… but do yourself a favor and don’t listen to the dense head over here” she motioned her head to her husband “and don’t ever think about going to the old pervert” she warned him.

Kakashi let his face slid on the table, right cheek against wooden surface.

“So who’s the lucky girl?” Kushina inquired purposely ignoring Kakashi’s usual tactics to leave him alone. When he shrugged in reply, he could see a movement in his peripheral – Kushina brought her hand to her lips before continuing “Oh, I’m so sorry…” this piqued his curiosity so he rolled his head so now it was resting on his chin. “Who’s the lucky boy?”

Minato choked in the background.

Kakashi sat straight in sudden movement crossing his arms in front of him in a big no sign.

When he saw a mischievous smirk on sensei’s wife lips he realized he had no chance against this woman.

“And here I thought you enjoyed my cooking” Kushina pouted.

Kakashi weighed his options in mind. Either he talked or that would be the last home cooked dinner in three months, at least it had been three months last time he’d gotten on the wrong side of Namikaze Kushina. From the corner of his eye he could see his sensei making a funny face to get his attention – and then his hand made a lightning fast sign, trying to warn him without Kushina realizing. Kakashi knew that sign.

DANGER.

His face resumed his place on the table.

“I’ve got a soulmark” he said flatly. Kushina squealed like a little girl. Minato visibly relaxed in the background. Kushina’s annoyance was not a single target damage, more so her discontent affected everyone in twenty meters radius around her. This pretty much covered the area of their house.

“I’m so happy for you!” she clapped her hands together with a big smile. When Kakashi only shrugged she furrowed her brows.

“Do you perhaps know who is your soulmate?” she inquired, absentmindedly rubbing against her collarbone where her own soulmark was hidden beneath her clothes. While hers, a red colored kanji for fire wasn’t much to go by, Minato’s corresponding blue meaning whirlpool made it quite easy to put two and two together.

Kakashi shrugged again.

“You mustn’t act like that! It is something to be treasured!” Kushina exclaimed all fired up by his lack of interest “Especially as ninja, especially now”

Kakashi blinked at her words, he knew that. She meant the war. With each dead ninja someone else’s soulmark disappeared. Maybe that’s why many cared very little for their soulmates in their profession. When every day could be your last very few accomplished a happy ending of Namikaze. Instead they took what they could, without being overly sentimental about soulbonds.

“It doesn’t matter either way” he said and with resignation pulled down the material revealing the nape of his neck.

“That’s…” said Minato, who during their conversation joined them near the dining table.

“Ironic, huh?” Kakashi closed his eyes and winced, even though the soulmark was nothing but a tattoo like mark, Kakashi felt his skin burning as if it had been etched into his skin. Yet another reminder of his failures.

“Well, Uchiha don’t marry outside clan, let’s hope it’s not that kind of soulmate at least” Minato said scrutinizing the mark. Not in the usual colors, because it was all white, but an unmistakable Uchiha fan nonetheless.

“Minato” Kushina hissed and he retreated back to the kitchen on the pretense of stirring the soup. “Kakashi-kun…” she started warmly.

“It doesn’t matter” he replied with finality.

Because it didn’t, really. It’s not like he would ever pursue anyone from _that_ clan. They disapproved of him because he had “stolen” their eye, one they would gladly take back if given the chance.

On the other hand he pitied his soulmate, he wouldn’t like to be stuck with himself as his mate. Everyone close to him died sooner or later. There was no need to involve in it yet another person. Because if Kakashi would somehow contribute to death of his soulmate that might be just what breaks him completely.

When seven years later Kakashi was woken up by a familiar bird pecking against his window he knew something happened. He’d just gotten back from a two months long S ranked mission that included killing a daimyo from a smaller country affiliated to the Mist, this warranted him at least two days off before another call.

That, plus a white ribbon against bird’s leg.

Kakashi put on his ANBU gear along with a porcelain mask before exiting his flat into the evening.

There was barely any place left for him in the office of the Third. The room was filled with ANBU operatives, most of them he knew. Some were missing yet to arrive or away on mission.

The Third sat behind his desk, seeming much older than Kakashi last seen him barely the hours before when he had reported after his mission in the morning. He was immersed in something his personal guard was whispering in his ear. There was no need for whispering in a room full of ANBU, though no one moved upon hearing the relayed information.

When the Hokage finally looked up at his finest forces his face hardened.

“Uchiha clan has been exterminated, from the information provided by operatives already on site, there are no survivors except one Uchiha Itachi” he said flatly.

Many around Kakashi flinched and looked around themselves discreetly. It seemed even the ANBU could be surprised. Kakashi was glad he had taken a place closer to the exit as it gave him a better vantage point. Indeed, many absent ANBU operatives were from Uchiha clan. Had been.

“Uchiha Itachi is now proclaimed a missing nin”

There was a movement in the room when personal guards of Hokage distributed the scrolls with directives for each operative.

“Hound, Hawk, Turtle and Monkey stay. Everyone else dismissed”

In a fraction of second the four of them were left alone with Hokage and two of his guards, at least two, Kakashi corrected himself, these two were visible but probably two or more were hidden.

“Go ahead” he motioned at the scrolls. They obediently opened them and familiarized with their content.

“This boy took on entire Uchiha clan, engage only if you are positive you can take him on. If you don’t intercept him before he crosses the border go back. Dismissed.”

When three days later Kakashi left this room again after reporting that mission had been a failure and learning that there was another survivor of what was now known as the Uchiha Massacre he hurried to his apartment.

When he found out, looking over his shoulder at the mirror in his bathroom, that his soulmark was as visible as it ever had been, his shoulders slouched visibly.

At least he could narrow his soulmate to two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, sorry for any mistakes on my part - my English is a bit rusty. 
> 
> Leave your thoughts, if you have any questions please tell me so.
> 
> Also, I'm intending to pretty much go with manga story with some changes at least up to the ending. There will be a lot of time skips and things explained in between as I want to focus on Kakashi and Sakura relationship and their growth over the years. I don't want to spend too much on retelling the story that's in the manga anyway just lay a background for what comes after.
> 
> Yeah, and I don't know how tags work so I've added only the obvious one.


	2. Genin

The first impression of his newly appointed genin team was… disappointment.

Kakashi was surprised they passed his test, especially with the vibes he’d gotten from them on their first meeting.

It seemed they were bad at making good first impression. Or maybe they had made him hate them so he would set his bar so low that any half decent action would be an improvement. Kakashi lived his life by three principles, one of them being looking underneath the underneath so he didn’t rule out this possibility.

Though the silly prank with an eraser had kind of reminded him of Obito and Kakashi inwardly smiled at the memory. And then his mood had worsened and he’d decided that he hated his new students.

The following months were minor missions typical for genin grade. When he looked back to those times later he thought they contained a lot of good moments, a lot more than he’d had in twenty years before and more than in six that would come after. He didn’t really do anything much, actually he lazed his ass off more than usual.

Kakashi had been through his second reading of all Icha Icha published extended editions with extra smut already and was in the middle of deciding which one should he reread first this time. He concluded he should finally try the chronological order, starting with the middle one before going back to first and then the last. Maybe next time he’d go with machete order. He had heard from a bookkeeper in the bookshop he frequented that it gave a new perspective on character growth.

“This is easier than I thought” a happy voice reached his ears and Kakashi looked up. He had just shown his students tree climbing and thought that would give him enough time to start reading the Icha Icha he’d just decided on.

A pink haired girl looked down on the rest of her team with a smug expression.

That was surprising, his most unpromising student, Haruno Sakura, was sitting at the top of the tree with kunai driven into a bark of tree she had chosen to climb.

He hadn’t expected much from her with how she had presented herself as more interested in the Uchiha boy than in actual training but it seemed she did have some talent after all. Maybe she’d finally realized that her beloved was immune to her hair care and tried to impress him in another way. As long as it would make her try harder with her training it was a motivator as good as any other.

Kakashi clapped with a crinkle in his eye.

“We can now safely say that you have the best control of your chakra in this team” Kakashi praised her and she beamed unaware the purpose of the compliment which was mainly to aggravate her teammates “Seems like you are much closer to becoming Hokage than Naruto, despite all his claims… and I must say expected more from the one that hopes to revive the glory of Uchiha Clan”

“Kakashi-sensei!” she choked realizing she’d been used, Kakashi didn’t remember when was the last time he had been a target of such deep scowl and killing intent. Zabuza hadn’t scowled so fiercely that’s for sure. With a wave he disappeared, leaving a signature to Konoha nins leaves behind him.

Next day Sakura kept looking at him with furrowed brows and Kakashi wondered if she’d been still angry with him for taunting boys with her success the day before. The boys had already gone training and Kakashi regretted not sending Sakura with them.

She was looking at him intently, her lower lip in between her teeth while she played with her fingers nervously. Kakashi had a feeling that whatever was on her mind was something he should avoid at all cost. While he knew his way around women, girls were somewhat of a mystery to him, one he wasn’t interested in solving.

When it seemed she was about to engage him, Kakashi lazily brought his book to his nose and continued reading from the place he’d stopped just before breakfast.

“Kakashi-sensei” she started and when she kept looking at him Kakashi realized that after two paragraphs of ignoring her she still hadn’t gotten the clue.

He hmm’ed in reply without taking his eyes from the book.

“I was wondering…” she said desperately trying to catch his attention but when he still hadn’t put the book away she decided to just continue “You are from a clan, aren’t you?”

He mhm’ed though he hid the surprise at the peculiar question.

From what he knew Harunos were civilians and civilians were rarely interested in ninja business so that might have been just a question out of her curiosity. Also, while Sakura was sometimes naïve, having a normal childhood that hadn’t included loss, if she knew the particular history of his clan she wouldn’t ask that question with an ill intent. Probably. She wasn’t that angry, right?

He stole a glance at her, she seemed nervous but there were no traces of maliciousness on her face, before returning to the book.

“Is your clan a big one?” she continued carefully still playing with her fingers.

“Not really” he replied and from the corner of his eye he could see her surprise.

“Oh… so like, your closest family?”

Kakashi sighed dropping his hand that was holding the book on his lap. His sudden attention on her startled her and Sakura fidgeted.

“Just me” he replied tiredly. “Why are you so interested in my clan, Sakura-chan?” while he hadn’t intended to, the question came out flatly and Sakura paled.

“Oh, no, not really, why?” and then lots of word came out of her mouth at once “It’s just I’ve read this book about core clans of our village and they are amazing, like the Hyuuga with the Byakugan or the Nara with their shadow technique that is unique. And I was friends with an heiress of Yamanaka, Ino but not anymore because…” she stopped because she noticed he returned to his book “I’m so sorry, Kakashi-sensei, I must be babbling”

“Ah, it’s no problem, Sakura-chan, but maybe you could go to the construction and watch over Tazuna-san?” he suggested and was glad when he heard her go away. Finally, the girl seemed to take the hint and he could focus on his reading.

Kakashi didn’t dwell too much on the topic of their mostly one-sided conversation. Not for another ten years at least.

 

* * *

 

“They were soulmates” Sakura pointed out when the four of them stood above the fallen bodies of the Mist ninja Zabuza and his peculiar companion Haku.

Kakashi glanced at his students looking somber.

“What? How can you tell, Sakura-chan?” asked Naruto scratching his head, eyes squinted in confusion.

Kakashi understood at once what she meant, soulbonds came in different kinds but these two seemed connected on such deep level it had to be the only answer. For a moment he felt a nagging feeling, one that rarely invaded him. Jealousy?

“It is said that only your soulmate can awaken your true power and those two were the strongest when they fought for one another” Sasuke supplied the answer to everyone’s surprise. But it was so much like Uchiha to point this particular element of soulbonds.

Kakashi felt his own soulmark burning on his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is another short one chapter, I have some more written but it kind of didn't make sense to post it along with this part.
> 
> And I'm retarded, I didn't realize I could reply to comments and when I found out I could I thought it would seem strange to answer so long after it was commented because I've read the comments after they were posted and I don't make sense, I know I don't.  
> So, thanks for comments and lets pretend that's the way I usually react to comments on first chapters of all my stories.


	3. Chuunin exam

When Kakashi signed up his genin for the chuunin exam the Hokage looked up at him surprised, though it was Iruka who voiced out his opinion the most.

He did rile him up for purpose of proving a point and he regretted it later, he decided he would have to make it up to him at some point. Kakashi would eventually but only after he became Hokage himself and Iruka long forgot the incident to realize that.

Later he called out to his students and continued with his already overused explanation for being late. Obviously no one bought it anyway but that was soon forgotten as he presented his genins with applications for chunin selection exam.

He had omitted saying only full teams were allowed to let them decide on their own whether they thought they were ready. Still, it was surprising to see the trio applying together.

Kakashi was certain that both Sasuke and Naruto would jump at the occasion to prove their worth as much to other Konoha nins as to one another. But Sakura? He knew she would do everything for Sasuke and indeed once he proposed them she looked briefly at the dark haired boy to gauge his reaction. Well, if that made Sakura a good shinobi then for all Kakashi cared she could keep chasing the boy if she wanted to.

As the first stage of the exam was only to filter out those completely unfitting for chunin, Kakashi was quite confident in his little students. But he was surprised when he saw the three of them emerging successful from the trial in Forest of Death, he had been pretty sure they would not pass by ignoring the order not to look at the scrolls but it seemed they had matured somewhere along the way. Or Sasuke kept Naruto from doing something this stupid.

They were ruffled and definitely went through a lot but still eager to carry on. He’d been informed of Orochimaru involvement, curse mark that had been inflicted on the Uchiha.

This was something that had to be dealt with. Kakashi had already contacted Anko, the only source of information on that matter. The woman had the same curse mark courtesy of her teacher, the very same man that seemed to take interest in Sasuke. Kakashi would need to pry more. For now he only issued a warning to the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre.

Kakashi also made a note to teach Sakura to duck next time, though it needed to be said that breaking from Yamanaka secret jutsu however unrefined had been somewhat impressive.

But first things first, Kakashi thought as he studied yellowed scrolls in front of him. The seals he was looking for had to be somewhere in the pile in front of him. He just needed to find them and combine them to his needs. He was by no means a seal expert but unfortunately the only person who could help him was probably outside some bathhouse peeking on unaware women.

Fortunately for Kakashi, while he had been known most under the name Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye, his left eye had not been what made him jounin at the age of thirteen. People tended to forget that he had been a prodigy genius before attaining the cursed eye.

Not like Kakashi wanted to remind others the extent of his skills, one wouldn’t be a slouching perv with absentminded eye reading Icha Icha every opportunity if one wanted to appear dangerous.

“Would you look at that, never thought I’d see you with your nose in something else than erotica” a voice full of glee broke into his thoughts.

“Anko” he acknowledged her entrance to one of the rooms in jounin headquarters.

“I’ve got your message to meet me” she smiled mischievously before pouting “I’m disappointed, I thought this was a social call” she said as she glanced over the scrolls laying on the table.

“Maybe next time” he crinkled his eye with a strained smile. Kakashi was aware of a rumor of them being fuck buddies but they both knew to laugh it off as only that.

They hadn’t been fuck buddies for years after all.

“You always say that, Hatake” the pout grew even bigger but she scooped some of the scrolls for a place to sit. Anko shrugged her coat, revealing her fitting mesh top “Yet you keep insisting on me undressing” she said with a wink and a sly smile.

Kakashi left the comment unanswered and focused on the curse mark, in particular a round seal that had been applied over it.

“Does Uchiha boy have a soulmark?” Anko asked, while he rummaged over the scrolls before bringing one of them up to compare to the seal on Anko’s neck.

“Not that I know of, why?”

“The curse mark is an artificial soulmark, something Orochimaru came up by himself. However, unlike soulbonds its focus is on sharing power. I have this theory… soulbonds especially acknowledged, can nullify the curse mark influence to some degree. Or…” she stopped.

“Or what?” he looked up from the scrolls at the sudden somber in her tone.

“Well, the curse mark basically competes with the soulmark – if you have one. I’ve lost mine… It just started to fade whenever I used the curse abilities… Until it disappeared completely and after that the curse mark started to be much more volatile. I’m thinking, that if it ended that way for me it might be possible it could work in reverse. Like making the curse mark fade away instead” she explained.

“The seal didn’t stop that?”

“Please, the seal can only help if you want it too, the curse mark might be an imperfect soulmark but it is still something that can eat your soulbond away. I don’t think you could seal your soulmark, though I can’t imagine why someone would do that and I don’t believe there’s a seal that could nullify the curse. Well, I don’t have to believe, I know that. It’s a constant battle where your every weakness just fuels it”

“Orochimaru did choose his target well this time” Kakashi said thoughtfully. Indeed, if there was anybody who sought power above else that would be Sasuke. Now, Kakashi needed to find a way to convince Uchiha that there are other means to get stronger. Ones that didn’t include succumbing to Orochimaru’s influence.

There was just one thing that nagged at Kakashi’s mind.

“If it does indeed work like soulbond who is the other one that shares their power with you?” he muttered under his breath, more to himself because he knew that if Anko had known that she would have told him already.

“Your guess is as good as mine but it’s definitely not Orochimaru. The curse stinks of him but it’s not his chakra that runs through the bond” she said after a thought, and added firmly “But one thing is sure, the boy has a soulmark, there’s no other explanation for the curse retreating like it did during his fight at the exam”

Anko’s words rang in Kakashi’s mind long after she’d gone her way, leaving him with scrolls his eye couldn’t focus on.

From the moment Kakashi had found the damned Uchiha fan on the back of his neck not once had he indulged the thought of doing anything towards finding his soulmate. Yes, it had frequently occupied his mind, especially when another Uchiha related thing of his hinted its existence (if the eye gifted to him wasn’t used to the point of excruciating pain, it would be dreams of crushed body of his former teammate that had him waking up out of breath looking around in panic).

Kakashi remembered his parents, they had been soulmates, his mother with a Hatake clan sign covering her back that looked clean and beautiful in its simplicity, his father with just as simple markings implying Inuzukas. Kakashi’s genius was partly due to his almost photographic memory but all he had from the time before his mother’s death were glimpses. He cherished the very few pictures of his parents together in his mind and at some point in his life he’d thought that he too would find similar love and bond that his parents had.

That had been before he’d failed Obito. Before he’d been called the Friend Killer. Before some sick twist of fate imprinted him with a mark of a clan that hated him and called him a thief behind his back.

It had been only natural to conclude that Kakashi would never ever seek his soulmate. No matter how he’d seen firsthand the power of the bond first in his parent then in Namikazes. Because, really, how could he ever deserve any Uchiha after failing one of them? He couldn’t exactly hide it with the living proof of his failure sitting in his face. How could he ever bound anyone to his miserable cursed self?

There were too many people without marks to even think it was something special. When people loved and lived in happiness without some silly bond between them it surely meant it’s not special at all. To believe that there was only one person just for you would be like lessening the meaning of love those markless people felt. That would simply be illogical and much too cruel.

But now, years after this conclusion, Kakashi was presented with a revelation of curse mark. He’d never felt the need to understand it when Anko had been imprinted with it, mostly because it had happened long before he had even known her. He remembered seeing it on her naked skin, he remembered she’d get all tense when he’d touched it and he’d never asked.

He’d never asked even though Kakashi remembered when she’d lost control that one time.

If that was the power of an artificial mark just how powerful could be the real thing?

He hoped it would be enough to satiate Sasuke’s need of power, because maybe that could be what kept him from Orochimaru’s grasp. And Kakashi, to his surprise, was willing to try that.

 

* * *

 

 

Kakashi’s hands performed the complex hand signs with expert speed of someone used to doing the same motions for the majority of his life. The strength of most seals laid as much in perfect projection of the circles as in activation with specific amount of chakra released. This could be tricky and for a moment Kakashi thought that seals could be just something he should interest his only female student in. He had noticed even though she dumbed herself in front of the very boy in front of him that she had a brain and determination to learn fast things most considered boring and with her chakra control she could probably make better seals than him without really trying.

With the connection of his skin, the verses of the seal painted in circles and lines with the curse in its center begun shrinking. Kakashi scrutinized the freshly applied seal. It looked similar to the one Anko had but as much as two people handwriting could be different, the seals applied by different person would differ too.

“This should do it” Kakashi finally said. Usually the sealing process even though it used the chakra of the sealer for activation, took most of its toll on the receiver. The greater the sealed power the more dangerous it could be for the one taking the seal. That was the main reason behind the many failed tailed beasts seals, as the seal had to entwine itself with chakra of the recipient for its sustain.

“The seal should keep the curse at bay… on one condition, you need to want it to work and sustain it with your own strength” he explained to the boy, just before he lost his consciousness. He crouched over his student, taking the chance to roam his eyes over his shirtless back in search of soulmark but found his skin unmarred apart from some pale scars.

This didn’t exactly mean he had no soulmark, there were still places covered by his clothing and Kakashi didn’t feel like undressing unconscious boys. He might be called a perv but he definitely was not a perv.

A slow clap from behind him brought Kakashi from his thoughts.

“My, my, what a splendid seal” a strange voice, neither that that of a woman nor that of a man pierced the silence of the room “Uzumakis school, very nice indeed. Too bad it’s futile”

Orochimaru’s silhouette came from the shadows and Kakashi could only think that the Sannin hadn’t changed a bit since the last time he’d seen him.

“Orochimaru” he acknowledged him as he turned “What do you want with the boy?” Kakashi asked as he discreetly took in his surroundings. For Orochimaru to walk that freely in Konoha…

“Straight to business, Kakashi-kun, don’t you want to catch up a little? How is little Senju boy? Tenzou I think he calls himself now?” Orochimaru grinned widely.

“What do you want with Uchiha?” Kakashi repeated his question.

Orochimaru sighed with exasperation.

“I thought you were supposed to be a genius, Kakashi-kun” he said in a teasing tone, before continuing as if he was sharing a verbal riddle with a child “You know how it is, two guys have something and the third really wants it too… You haven’t had it for a very long time yourself, you know what it is, don't you?”

“The sharingan”

“Bingo, Kakashi-kun. We could use it in my village, Otogakure, you know? You have so many bloodlines in Konoha, surely you won’t miss this one… Especially since you’ve almost killed it off yourselves” the smile on Orochimaru was bloodthirsty.

“I won’t allow you to take him” Kakashi stood his ground between them though the particular wording Orochimaru had chosen to describe the Uchiha Massacre raised a question in his mind.

“Can you stop me?” Orochimaru asked with a raised eyebrow, not quite believing the notion “Doesn’t matter, I’m just checking up on my new toy, he’ll come to me willingly in his own time” he said with confidence.

Kakashi remained unmoved on his spot without saying anything, it seemed Orochimaru wasn’t a person who needed others to hold conversation.

“You doubt that, don’t you?” he asked but not waiting for answer “You might think he’s just like you, but he isn’t. People keep dying around you, his people are already dead. But he can avenge them by killing his brother, who would you have to kill? Yourself?”

Orochimaru’s grin split his face unnaturally when he noticed the tenseness of Kakashi’s jaw.

“Seems like I’m right on point” he said hapilly “Anyway, he will come to me and you won’t be able to stop him. See you around, Kakashi-kun” and Orochimaru turned on his heel before disappearing in shadows, his words echoed in Kakashi’s mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said something along the lines of wanting to skip most of the manga story because we all know it but hey, there's something about soulbonds here. Hope you like it.


	4. before final exam

After meeting Orochimaru Kakashi became aware of three things.

  * He had become weak and rusty in the last year while he’d been overseeing his little genins.
  * He should focus on Sasuke training more and introduce him to some of his more powerful ninjutsu.
  * He should determine whether the Uchiha was his soulmate.



Luckily for him those three things didn’t exclude one another, so he dropped off Naruto at some other jounin teacher to watch over him and left a message for Sasuke to meet him once he’d left the hospital.

The first and second point of his to do list he’d already got some idea, the third one not so much.

Kakashi had a lot of time before Sasuke finally arrived and most of it he focused on his own training and thinking. He’d spent most of his life denying the existence on the soulmark that adorned the back of his neck, though it had been pretty hard when all he had to look at the mirror with both his eyes open to see another as iconic as the fan thing that was so Uchiha he couldn’t stop his thoughts wandering to the uncomfortable topic. Not looking at the mirror helped massively, although his hairstyle suffered because of that. Well, quid pro quo.

However, he had to keep in mind Anko’s theory. If the curse mark and soulmark were indeed competing and nullifying one another depending which bond was stronger, he might just give it a chance.

At least it was probably Sasuke and not one of his other students. From the period he had known the trio this one had been the one he could most relate to, both in the loss and how he dealt with it.

Naruto had such strange coping mechanisms that Kakashi wouldn’t know how to help him, though it seemed unnecessary. Somehow against all odds this boy had a way that seemed to make people allow him under their skin and genuinely like him. Sure, he was annoying and loud but once you knew him those things were… still irritating. Okay, Kakashi couldn’t relate to him at all.

Sakura? She was a teenage girl, he still hadn’t learned how to act around her with her mood swings. He remembered her crying once over no reason at all once and he earned a punch for asking what had been wrong. Well no really, he’d dodged but her intent had been clear. And then the next second Sasuke had appeared and she’d turned into the sweetest, most demure person in the world. Kakashi could relate to fakeness, he did a lot of that himself, but this girl took it to another level.

So, Kakashi thought, Sasuke was not bad at all. He was determined, focused on his training, pretty sharp… his goal was somewhat twisted but nothing too uncommon with shinobi. He just needed a good teacher to show him the way. Hopefully not one that involved going rogue nin to find Orochimaru.

So yeah, Kakashi just might find a student worthy teaching him some of his best ninjutsu. He had quite a few of them.

 

* * *

 

 

Kakashi realized that he should’ve learned a long time ago that in his case it never rained but it poured.

First of all, the Hokage had been killed. Sure, he had lived far longer than most and it had been his age that had him killed, yet in a way this should have been avoided by killing Orochimaru before.

Regarding Orochimaru, it seemed he was still interested in his Uchiha student. And Kakashi doubted their month of training had strengthened the possible bond. Instead the boy had seemed more angry than usual.

Which brought Kakashi’s thoughts to the other possible soulmate, the missing nin Uchiha Itachi, who had made some strange friends at some point between killing his family and visiting Konoha for whatever reason.

This in turn had been connected to his other student, that happened to be Fourth Hokage’s son as well as jinchuuriki that held a tailed beast within. One that also happened to kill half the village the day Naruto had been born.

It seemed that his third student was probably the only one that hadn’t been the target of one or the other missing nin.

So far, Kakashi thought, as he entered the hospital room of unconscious Uchiha. Kakashi couldn’t tell who looked worse, the boy on the brink of death or the girl that sat beside him. He immediately regretted coming here. Well, not really, he’d known she would be here he’d expected her to not be in especially good mood, but that didn’t change the fact that Kakashi was uncomfortable.

She raised her eyes at him, still vibrant green but dimmed a bit by bags under her eyes. Sakura didn’t smile at him.

“Yo” Kakashi raised his hand in a greeting.

“Morning” she mumbled back.

“How is he?”

Kakashi went into the room, taking place at the window as he spoke. Sakura followed him with her eyes until she would have to turn and looked at Sasuke instead.

“They don’t know how to help him” she said with worry and traces of anger in her voice “He’s slowly dying”

“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan, Naruto will bring Tsunade-hime and she will heal him in no time” he said reassuringly, having the urge to tousle her hair but something in the way she her shoulders had tensed when he’d come in, told him not to.

“You’ve left me” she suddenly turned to him and Kakashi realized the anger she had displayed before hadn’t been directed at the staff for their inability to help Sasuke. He opened his mouth to reply her but shut it immediately when he found out he didn’t know what he wanted to say.

Sakura blinked and took a breath.

“You always do that” she said again and Kakashi knew this time it meant the team not him. Which made him question himself why he had thought she’d meant him before. “You always go and leave me behind… Am I that useless?” she asked again and he half expected her to crumble before him and cry like she usually did. But the eyes that looked at him showed only stubbornness.

“Sakura-chan, you are not” he started saying and he intoned his words in a way implying that he was intending to continue but in reality Kakashi didn’t know at all what to say now.

Because yes, the girl had brains and good chakra control but Kakashi still didn’t know whether she was fit to be a ninja at all.

Sakura waited for him to say something and he saw some of her façade broke, sadness crept into her eyes when he hadn’t.

She turned once again to watch the unconscious boy in front of her. Sakura took Sasuke’s hand and cradled it in her own.

“Do you believe in soulbonds?” she asked, the change of the subject made Kakashi blink in confusion.

“Do you?” he replied with a question which seemed to annoy her but she shrugged it off.

“I did at some point” she said sincerely and turned her body to look at him. The sadness in her eyes made Kakashi look away. The girl had never bothered with hiding her emotions and he had never known how to deal with that. From the corner of his eyes he saw her lower her head. “Now… I think I hate it, I hate the idea that there is supposed to be that one person that was made just for you. It’s silly. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t work this way. It shouldn’t.”

Sakura was gripping Sasuke’s hand hard and Kakashi realized what she was looking at.

There on the palm of his hand stood out a bloody red circle. And he suddenly understood what she’d been trying to say.

“Sakura-chan” she almost jumped at the gentleness of his voice “You deserve happiness and I don’t  believe some silly mark could stop you from getting it” Kakashi ruffled her hair and stood by her side when she cried.

It was too bad that in a few days the boy she cried over left her behind again and Kakashi lied to her that everything would be okay.


	5. after final exam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here's the second part of final exam. I posted it in two because it felt better and I am rushing it, sorry!

Kakashi had pretty much failed in every possible way he could have.

Kakashi realized it had been a good thing that he’d failed four genin teams before Team Seven. He dreaded to think in what way he would have failed those twelve teens if he had given them a chance.

He’d failed Sasuke, the only one that he truly should have teach the principles of Konoha shinobi. The only one he should have prevented from leaving. Because once the Uchiha had been gone his team ceased to exist.

Kakashi at this point was pretty much sure the boy wasn’t his soulmate, he couldn’t make the connection between his soulmark and himself but this only left him with the worse Uchiha, so it was no improvement at all.

Naruto had taken off with Jiraiya, which was good really, because Kakashi knew that Jiraiya was a thousand times more a teacher than himself.

Sasuke had taken off to give his body away to Orochimaru on the promise his clan would be avenged. This wasn’t in any way good.

Sakura had disappeared on him completely once Naruto left. Kakashi knew she was in the village but he didn’t know what she was up to. And that was good too because Kakashi was scared to look her in the eye after he’d promised her everything would be well.

Kakashi had gone by her house anyway once but he’d only learned that she’d been out training. With whom he hadn’t found out. It seemed she avoided him. Kakashi stopped looking for her after that.

Kakashi strolled to the Hokage tower with nose buried in his favorite book. Now that he didn’t have his little genins to keep his company he realized his life was boring. He might as well spend some time in jounins’ quarters and find himself some mission to keep himself occupied.

Kakashi had missed those when Team Seven still existed but now he didn’t really look forward to an S or A class mission. He longed for some simple D-class, to watch his students chase the damn cat again or paint the fence of some civilian.

But Team Seven was no more.

Kakashi turned the page when he noticed familiar pink in the corner of his eye. He stopped in his tracks. Sakura was sitting with the Yamanaka girl and for a brief moment Kakashi was confused because he thought they weren’t friends but here they were speaking comfortably with one another. Maybe he had misunderstood their relation, he’d never know with girls their age.

He pondered whether he should come and greet the girls given that Sakura had eluded him for the past month.

The decision was made for him when Sakura’s friend noticed him, he could see her eyes widen and she whispered something to his student.

Sakura’s smile faded from her face when she finally turned to him. He waved at her with a crinkle-eyed smile, brought his book up again and started walking away.

“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura called behind him to his surprise and blocked his path.

He half expected her to apologize for avoiding him but the stubborn tilt of her chin told him she wouldn’t.

“Tsunade-sama took me as her student” she stated simply.

“Congratulations, Sakura-chan” he reached to ruffle her hair appreciatively but she ducked her head, so he let his hand drop.

“I don’t want to be left behind ever again, you need to understand that” Kakashi had a feeling she wanted to communicate something to him with her flat tone and surprisingly he understood.

It’s him that is being left behind this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and hope you like it.


	6. chuunin at last

The three years of Naruto absence went like a blur.

Kakashi vaguely remembered much from that time, just after his genin team disbanded mostly because he was worthless excuse of a teacher, he went to one of those infiltration missions that looked good on a scroll, relatively easy, nice paycheck and all. But, alas, he always seemed to get those that extended beyond previously stated timeframe. So of course, he had spent eleven months twelve days in some backwater village in the Snow Country finding exactly nothing. Which was actually a good thing because it turned out that the commotion in the area was completely unrelated to the Akatsuki and the underground circle of human traffickers were mostly harmless. At least on a grander scale.

He had killed all the big fish anyway. And gathered enough data on working cells throughout the Snow country and its neighbors to completely end the whole operation.

Kakashi did like the way back very much though. He liked that every few days he could seal in a scroll another layer of clothing as he was getting closer to the Village Hidden in the Leaves until finally his standard attire was enough. Actually, scratch that, Konoha was in the middle of the summer and it was so hot that he almost wanted to run around wearing a wife beater and shorts but Kakashi was a Konoha nin and he wore his uniform proudly and it was a good character builder to make himself suffer so much.

Also, his skin was very sensitive and he got sunburned easily and then he would look just like a tomato with a patch of white mold on top.

Kakashi decided to get himself one of those kage hats one day no matter how silly it would look on him.

He sighed with relief when the familiar Konoha gates appeared from between the trees and his footsteps gained on speed.

Kakashi spent half an hour (or two hours, time always seemed to flow differently when he decided for a guilt trip) at the cenotaph before turning his steps towards the Hokage Tower, his nose buried in his favorite Icha Icha part. To whomever stopped him, he simply nodded and excused himself, because important mission report and he must not be late or Godaime would hang him by his balls on Yondaime’s hairs. They shook their heads after him because there was no hurry in his lazy steps.

“You are late” were the words he was greeted with when he finally made it to Hokage’s office.

“I was supposed to return tomorrow, so no, as much as it pains me to say that, I am actually early this time” Kakashi replied with ease as Tsunade finally lifted her head from the scroll she had been reading. She was scowling fiercely at him and he thought he should’ve kept his mouth shut.

“Yet you’ve been seen at the gates four hours ago”

_Keep your mouth shut, keep your mouth shut._

“I’m pretty sure it was barely two”

Tsunade huffed at his mock confusion.

“Dammit, Kakashi, you are supposed to report first thing you set foot in the village. I can’t have my top jounin disrespecting the most basic thing expected of him. Think of the example you give!”

_Nicely done._

“In my defense, no one’s that stupid to set me as their example”

That seemed to ease the tension because Tsunade sighed with resignation while shaking her head.

“You are right, just give me the damn scroll and get out of my sight” she motioned with her hand to her desk. “Good job by the way, too bad your overstay exceeded the budget so don’t expect a paycheck for this one”

Kakashi groaned as he dropped the summary report on a bundle of other reports waiting to be read.

“My rent for the year at least?” he had to try.

“Please” she stretched the word “I know your bank statement, you’re hardly a beggar”

“Well, that’s because I take missions and get paid for them usually?”

“Nice try, I can give you one month in a hospital for free if you insist that much” she grunted.

Kakashi held his hands in a placating gesture while taking cautious steps back towards the exit. Only when his feet hit the door did he turn his back.

“Oh, and Kakashi? Your student just got promoted to chuunin, you should probably thank me for that and congratulate her, buy her something or whatever. And you have a week for a full report, don’t be late!” she called after him before he closed the doors behind him.

It took Kakashi three months get Sakura a present and another two weeks to give it to her due to last second mission near Suna border.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kakashi found her standing in front of Ichiraku two days after he’d come back. She was standing frozen and for a moment he simply observed her as she was in the middle of deciding whether she wanted to step in or not.

“Sakura-chan” he said in a greeting and the girl turned to him with a smile that faltered only for a second when she recognized him, then it went back in a full force and Kakashi found himself being hugged so hard it took his breath away.

“Kakashi-sensei!” she exclaimed loudly and he was a bit worried about his hearing in right ear. She probably felt him tense up and as suddenly as she had hugged him she let go of him and took a step back.

Sakura tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and looked up at him.

“Sorry, I probably shouldn’t call you that. It's not like you are my teacher anymore” she said somewhat shyly and Kakashi was struck with how much she had grown in his absence. He knew Sakura was at the age when a year was a lot but it still surprised him to see a teenager girl instead of a kid.

“I’m fine with Kakashi-sama if you are” he replied easily and she scowled.

“Never!” Sakura replied firmly and he had to chuckle.

“Just Kakashi then?” he replied.

“That’s even worse!” she blushed furiously and his eyebrows raised in surprise at her reaction. It seemed teenager Sakura was even more confusing than kid Sakura.

Kakashi cleared his throat softly before pointing to the ramen stand.

“You hungry?” he asked and without waiting for her reply made his way to the counter. For a moment it seemed she didn’t follow but soon he felt her sitting beside him.

“Been a while, huh?” he broke the silence after they had ordered and it seemed his former student had suddenly gone mute.

“Yeah” she replied absentmindedly and Kakashi sighed because they were back to silence again and he really wasn’t up to fill it. He had honestly expected her to chatter like she had so easily in the past. He stole a glance at her, debating whether he should just give up and pull out his book but her expression made him pause. Sakura looked kind of pathetic, with her brows furrowed and lower lip quite abused by her teeth.

“Sakura?” he asked tentatively.

“Ah, sorry, yes, what?” she smiled at him, her gloom expression gone. When he didn’t answer, she realized she had been caught “Naruto’s birthday is next week I just get sad whenever it comes up…”

“Right, it’s around this time of year” Kakashi obviously remembered. The day was also the day when almost entire generation of Konoha shinobi had died fighting the Kyuubi. When Minato died. And Kushina.

“I don’t even like ramen, you know?” she said with a wistful tone. “I’m glad I met you today, I’ve been ending up in front of here for the past two weeks but never gone inside”

“He’ll be back soon”

“I know but it won’t be the same anyway” she muttered under her breath. Kakashi wasn’t sure if she intended him to hear.

“Sakura…”

Fortunately two bowls of ramen saved him from continuing.

They ate in silence and thankfully it didn’t sound in his ears as much as before, because, well, they were eating and Sakura had always been a proper lady and didn’t speak with her mouth full so it was obvious to eat in silence.

“I’ve heard congratulations are in order” Kakashi said after they had finished “And I’ve got you something”

He ignored the surprised look on her face (because really, was it that strange to get her something?) and pulled the small package from his vest and left it on the counter. He decided against waiting for her to open it and instead stood up.

When Kakashi heard a loud “thank you” he simply waved and went his way.

And then, the rest of the three years they had agreed to meet up the day Naruto had gone away with Jiraiya went by quickly with mission following the next one. Kakashi never particularly sought Sakura out, yet they happened to meet here and there, and he noticed with surprising gladness she was always wearing the pouch he had given her for becoming chuunin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for commenting and kudos and all.
> 
> Also. I have very little time on my hands lately, so I'm sorry for not replying to most of them.


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